Symphony of tears
by Griff Valdez
Summary: One night while he is out on patrol Danny discovers even ghosts have feelings.
1. The ghost in the alley

Danny yawned and rolled over onto his back as he flew toward the outskirts of town in an attempt to block out the noise of the people down below. Two months, that's how long it had been since the incident with the asteroid. Two months since he had saved the world, two months since Vlad, literally, disappeared off the face of the earth, two months since the constant badgering began, two months since he had admitted his feelings for, her.

Danny smiled at the thought of Sam. If it weren't for her he would have gone insane by now. All those people constantly bugging him for one reason or another for everything ranging from some big event right down to his autograph. But at the end of the day she was always there, just plain old Sam in a world that had been turned on it's head. Not that there was anything plain about Sam mind you. The thought made Danny smile all over again.

And then there was Tucker, sorry, his honor the mayor Tucker Foley. Thinking of Tucker sent Danny into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. A sixteen year old mayor, it sounded like something out of a lame Saturday morning cartoon, but it was the truth. Silently Danny thanked the powers that be for him to. Tucker was the only other person Danny knew that was in a similar position, granted Tucker was stuck with a larger workload as of late but he was just as swamped with unwanted affections as Danny was.

Which brought Danny to his next point as he settled down on the roof of an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town, glad to be free of the noise of the city. The ghosts had been pretty quiet lately, well except for Skulker due to Danny's newfound fame. But then Skulker was only even remotely civil when it benefited him in some way, and even then he was insufferable. But other then the mechanized jerk ghost attacks were few and far between, even the box ghost hadn't made much of a nuisance of himself as of late.

Deciding not to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth Danny slipped off the edge of the warehouse and began to drift back towards town so he could finish his patrol and get to bed. He was just about to exit the abandoned warehouse district when a familiar sensation crept up Danny's body causing a cloud of foggy breath the strean out of his mouth.

"And just when I was looking forward to another uneventful night" muttered Danny even as he scanned the area, "I hope it isn't Skulker again. I'm getting really sick of him". When he saw nothing Danny tensed up, whoever it was was probably planning on ambushing him.

Still nothing. Slowly Danny eased his guard down. Maybe whoever it had been was just passing through. Shrugging to himself Danny was about to take off when he heard a faint sound. Pausing to listen Danny slowly drifted toward the source of the sound. "It sounds like, crying" he whispered to himself, "still".

Deciding to err on the side of caution Danny landed on the warehouse next to the alley where the sound was coming from and, easing his way to the roofs edge, looked down. On the ground Danny could barely make out a figure huddled next to a beat up old trash can. Whoever it was they were hugging their knees to their chest and sobbing.

Resisting the urge to just jump down Danny turned himself invisible and phased into the wall of the warehouse before silently drifting down to ground level and moved along the ground with only his eyes poking out of the pavement.

Rounding a pile of old garbage bags the person, or rather girl, that Danny had heard came into full view. _Well now I know what my ghost sense picked up_ he thought as soon as he recognized who it was.

Tight leather clothing, blue hair, high heeled boots with skull motifs engraved on the toes. _But what's Ember doing here, _thought Danny, _and why is she so upset? _

Looking around Danny saw that several tissues littered the ground along with crumpled up wads of paper. Glancing up at the trash can and seeing the end of Embers guitar poking out of it Danny had a pretty good idea of what was written on the paper.

Danny felt a twinge of sympathy For the young ghost woman as another sob escaped her lips. Unable to stand it any more Danny poked his head all the way up out of the pavement deactivating his invisibility in the process. "Why are you crying?" he asked carefully causing Ember to jump to her feet.

"Who's there?" Ember demanded looking around almost frantically.

"Down here" said Danny as he phased the rest of the way out of the ground to sit cross-legged against the opposite wall.

Looking down Ember scowled despite the fact that tears were still streaming down her face. "What do you want Phantom" she croaked defiantly before her legs gave out and Ember sank back down to the ground.

Danny shrugged, trying and failing to hide the concerned look on his face behind a mask of indifference. "To talk I suppose" he said, "I was kind of wondering why you were here".

"Right" grumbled Ember forcing, herself to look at the ground, "and I would want to talk to you why?"

"Oh?" said Danny raising and eyebrow as he began to push himself up, "maybe I'll just leave then".

Ember looked like she was going to let him go but then. "Wait" she said still not looking up. Shrugging Danny lowered himself back down and waited patiently.

After what seemed like an eternity Ember looked up. "How do you do it?" she croaked.

"Do what?" asked Danny now genuinely confused.

"You know what I mean" Ember hissed, "your mister big shot aren't you? The whole world knows who you are". Ember clamped her eyes shut in a vain attempt to stop the tears from flowing, "I dedicate everything to my music and not even one person remembers my name. I'm not even wanted in the ghost zone any more".

That caught Danny's attention. He wanted to ask about it but, deciding that wasn't the best thing to do right now, he instead stood up and plucked Embers guitar out of the garbage. "So you don't want this any more is that it?" he asked taking his seat again.

Ember just letch out a noncommittal "Hmph" and looked away again.

"Alright then" said Danny, a sly grin creeping onto his face, "if you don't want it". Slinging the instrument around his neck and making sure the dial wasn't pointed to anything that would cause any trouble Danny plucked a few of the strings. "Can't be too hard to figure this thing out".

Ember cringed when she heard Danny start to play a bunch of random out of tune notes. "Stop that" she growled.

"What?" Shouted Danny over the noise he was making, "I can't hear you".

Ember resisted the urge to cover her ears. The noise coming from her guitar sounded like a barnyard animal squealing as it was strangled with its own entrails. Despite that she could feel her mood lighten somewhat as she watched the ghost boys antics.

"Oh give it here" Ember grumbled snatching the instrument away from Danny and slinging it onto her own shoulder, "like this". Ember popped her knuckles before picking out a simple tune.

All the while Danny just stared at her with a stupid grin plastered on his face. "Feel better?" he asked once she had finished and set the instrument aside, this time not in the trash can.

Ember wiped the moisture off of her face with the back of her hand and nodded reluctantly.

"For what it's worth" Danny said, leaning a bit closer, "I remembered your name".

Ember's head snapped up to find Danny looking right at her. "I…" she sputtered. For the first time ever she was at a loss for words. That had been the nicest thing anyone had said to her…ever. "Hmm" she muttered leaning back against the wall, "guess I was right about you after all, thanks baby pop". Ember ran a hand through her hair to find her ponytail had reignited itself.

"Your welcome I suppose" muttered Danny, "you never answered my question you know" he said.

"Which one?"

"Uh" muttered Danny intelligently drawing a chuckle from Ember, "why are you here? And for that matter where are the other ghosts? The only one I see regularly any more is Skulker. And we both know how much of a barrel of laughs he is".

Ember hesitated wondering, not for the first time, why she hadn't just let the ghost boy leave. "It's a long story" she said at length.

Danny just shrugged. "I've got time" he said.

Ember let out a heavy sigh. "All right dipstick you win" she said, "here goes…"

888

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE PLOT BUNNIES ARE EATING MY BRAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS! Oh well keeps me busy I suppose :P Couldn't sleep, damn insomnia, and ran into some minor writers block halfway through chapter 5 of AOTN (which will still be up tomorrow I promise) so I whipped this up…what's with me and DP lately anyway? No to mention Ember? Oh well I'll add more to this within the week. Enjoy R&R all that jazz. ciao


	2. Ember's story

(One week ago)

While the outside world was relatively calm the ghost zone was abuzz with activity. One may not have expected it with the ghost zone being populated by…well…ghosts, but the asteroid incident had caused more then a bit of a stir.

Everywhere one turned little knots of ghosts could be found talking, bickering, and generally making complete fools of themselves. Even the occasional brawl broke out sending most of the weaker ghosts scattering to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

One argument in particular seemed like it would turn sour any moment.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" raged Skulker causing several spectators to flinch, "after everything that, that, BOY has done to me, to all of us, you expect me to stop hunting him".

"Oh please" snapped Ember, "you don't give a damn about the rest of us. All you care about is bagging your next trophy".

The crowd muttered in agreement but Skulker ignored them. "So what?" he growled, "think of the glory it will bring me when I have the brats hide on my wall".

"And then what?" piped up another voice. Turning they found Ghost Writer staring blankly at Skulker, his arms crossed. "Say you catch Phantom" he continued, "which I find unlikely considering how much stronger he is then you, then any of us really. What then you great lummox?"

"I'll find new pray" ground out Skulker, "Just like I always do".

"I say let him go after Phantom" piped up another ghost who turned out to be Spectra, "The little bastard has it coming to him".

"Oh really?" Countered Ghost Writer, "and what did Phantom do to warrant being hunted? True he was rude to me but he learned his lesson and I forgave him. He even went so far as to help us save our world. How can you in good conscience continue to hunt him?"

"He's unique" stated Skulker as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That should be a reason to leave him be, not destroy him" said a new voice in a mild British accent. Everyone looked to find the newcomer standing at the edge of the crowd. He was stark white and wore a similarly colored shirt and pants. Over top he had a red trench coat and boots along with flaming hair the same color.

"What do you want Blaine?" snapped Skulker, "I'm surprised your even here. You never leave your lair".

"Yes well I wouldn't have bothered" drawled Blaine, "but your little gathering is practically right outside my door and you're making an awful racket. So naturally I came out to investigate".

"Well go climb back in your hole" snapped Skulker, "This doesn't concern you".

"Oh?" said Blaine raising an eyebrow, "It seems to me that your trying to eviscerate Phantom involves everyone".

"Don't worry about Phantom, Blaine" drawled Ember, "this idiot couldn't hunt down a pizza in a Little Caesars".

"Quiet girl" Skulker roared rounding on Ember.

"Why should I be?" she snapped, "afraid of the truth?"

"I said quiet!"

"No!" Ember snapped, "You know what I think Skulker? I think you and every other Ghost who still hates Phantom is afraid. Afraid because we were wrong about him, if it weren't for him we would al be vapor floating in space and you damn well know it. You're afraid that someone who's only half a ghost cares more about us then even we do. But most of all YOU'RE afraid of having to give up your pointless, disgusting little habit of caging and gutting innocent ghosts for your sick little hobby!"

Several of the ghosts murmured in agreement while the others glared at the girl as she spun on her heel to leave. But Ember didn't get two step's befor something slammed into the side of her head sending her careening into one of the ghost zones many floating bits of junk.

Spitting out a wad of ectoplasm that had collected in her mouth Ember looked up to find Skulker lowering his fist as the crowd bolted for safety. "You bastard" she snarled. In one fluid motion Ember un-slung her guitar and stuck a chord sending a shockwave into Skulker's chest sending the hunter tumbling.

Shaking it off Skulker charged forward and, barreling right through Embers next attack, pinned her to the rock face by the throat with one gauntleted fist.

Ember just glared as Skulker raised his arm cannon aiming right for her face. But before he could fire a jet of flame washed over Skulker's arm turning the weapon to a sparking mass of overheated slag.

"Who dares…" began Skulker as he looked back over his shoulder only to have a fist smash squarely into his jaw sending him spiraling off again.

Looking up Ember found Blaine standing over her protectively. "Get out of here" he snapped not daring to take his eyes off the mechanical ghost.

Ember wanted to protest but with one eye swelling shut and more then a few scrapes from colliding with the rock she knew she was in no shape to fight. "Thanks" she wheezed before taking off.

Once Ember was gone Blaine, cracking his knuckles in the process, turned his full attention to Skulker. "It's high time someone taught you a lesson on how to treat a lady" he snapped.

888

(present day)

Danny stayed silent while Ember told her story. It hadn't just been Skulker, there were a lot of ghosts that seemed dead set on harassing Ember and any other ghost that spoke on the ghost boys behalf.

"And finally I just couldn't take it any more, so I left the ghost zone and came here" she finished. Looking up Ember found Danny regarding her intently. "What?" She asked, "is there something on my face?"

"Only if your nose counts" Danny said, "Seriously though you have every right to be upset, still" Danny continued, putting his arms behing his head and leaning on the wall as he did, "I wouldn't worry about it to much".

"Why do you say that?"

"Well first off" said Danny grinning from ear to ear, "Skulker's an ass, so nothing he says is worth even a pile of dung". Ember chuckled at the mental image that conjured up. "Besides if he or anyone else harasses you again just come looking for me and I'll shove them in a hurt locker".

Ember grinned as she hauled heself to her feet with Danny following suit. "Thanks Phantom" she said offering him her hand.

"Danny" he responded accepting the hand, "call me Danny"

Ember just chuckled. "Thanks Danny"

"Any time"

Authors notes

Blaine was an OC that never quite panned out. Maybe I'll turn the idea I had for continuing this fic into a separate one if I ever have the inclination. I'm just sort of sick of having half finished stuff I know I wont finish on my page so this is it for this one.


End file.
